Orchard Forest School
Orchard Forest School began its journey back in 2019 and has since grown and developed over the years with the help of our lovely community and a wealth of valuable volunteers.
We pride ourselves on our small team of staff who are supported by our kind and young hearted volunteers who help us run sessions and manage two ancient orchards which is where we are based.
Although Orchard Forest School is set up as a ‘Community Interest Community’ with three directors, we work in partnership with Lupton House and share their ethos of ‘everyone is welcome’.
Our Sessions
Mini Explorers
Toddlers (0-5yrs) bring their parents/grandparents/carers to these sessions on a weekly basis during term time for a two-hour session where everyone gets a chance to go off freely to explore various play/creative stations.
Activities vary on a weekly basis and link to nature and the time of year. So whether you’re making mud pies in the mud kitchen, hunting for fairies in the Enchanted garden, taking some time out in the hammocks or making hedgehogs from pine cones and clay, be sure that there’s something for everyone!
Mini Explorer sessions run during term time on:
Mondays 9.30am-11.30am & 12.30-2.30pm
Tuesdays- 9.30am-11.30am
Thursdays- 9.30am-11.30am
Home Ed’s Go Wild
Lots of local families choose to educate their children from home, so we’re only too happy to offer a fortnightly group to these families where they can come, get back in touch with nature, learn and develop new skills and enjoy the great outdoors with us. Our Home Ed families embrace Forest School and following the children’s interests so although we always have a planned session in place, we also encourage children to follow their own curiosities and interests.
Sessions are on Tuesday afternoons 12.30-2.30pm, you pay per session on the day of your session.
(Sessions subject to change in winter months, contact to find out more)
Adult over 50’s Group
We started this group as an over 50s project due to the funding criteria, however we have since opened it up to all adults regardless of age.
Some adults come along because they have been prescribed this group by their Social Prescriber at their GP surgery to help manage their mental health and well-being, others come along to get physically fit or to combat isolation or loneliness, but whatever the reason it’s a safe space to come to make new friends, enjoy some homemade soup warmed over the fire, chat to likeminded people and spend time in nature.
Adults come along between 10am-2pm on Wednesdays during term time
These sessions are part funded so all we ask is for a little donation towards refreshments and lunch each week, however during these recent tricky financial times nobody is asked for this, it’s merely if you can afford it.
Intergenerational Sessions
We pride ourselves on working intergenerationally on a day-to-day basis, made possible by the mixture of ages of our staff and our wonderful volunteers who help us on a day-to-day basis.
To promote this way of working even further we run intergenerational sessions once per month, where Childminders bring their early years children along to our over 50s group on a Wednesday morning to share our space, skills and make memories.
Beautiful friendships and relationships have developed during these sessions, where young and old come together and learn from each other.
This group was particularly powerful during the pandemic where our elders weren’t able to see their own younger family members due to travel restrictions, but with careful planning and risk assessing we were able to facilitate these sessions safely enabling everyone to feel less isolated. We have been told many a time that these sessions in particular got a lot of our older participants through the tough times of the pandemic, by our younger friends bringing smiles and funny moments for us to share!
Birthday Parties & Gatherings
Where better to bring family and friends together to celebrate occasions or just to be together, than in our beautiful tranquil setting, where you can have our whole 4-acre site to yourselves, facilitated by two of our Forest School staff.
You can book us for a 2hr session which we will plan bespoke to your needs or interests. Birthday children get to choose and help plan their own party to make sure it’s a party to remember and a party that they really enjoy!
Children’s birthday parties include each child getting an environmentally friendly scavenger party bag, to put their craft they’ve created whilst they’re with us in.
So whether it be a pirate, fairy or bear hunt party for a toddler or a den building, whittling party for a teenager, we can plan a bespoke party for any age or any occasion!
We tend to run these on Saturday mornings or early evenings but we can also book these during the longer school summer holidays during the week, however we do get booked up in advance so please get in touch in plenty of time!
Holiday & Evening Sessions
We run family sessions throughout all school holidays, where the whole family can come together and enjoy our sessions together.
We link sessions to the time of year, so whether it’s to make elderflower cordial, orchard blackberry jam, Easter hunts, Learning how to light fires and build dens, Spooky Halloween sessions or Christmas craft sessions, we’re sure they’ll be something for everyone.
Occasionally we also run bespoke adult sessions such as Christmas wreath making workshops
which gives adults a chance to escape their busy lives without the kids and family to enjoy time for themselves in nature.
From time to time we run bespoke evening sessions throughout the year which offer our community something a ‘little bit different!’
Some of these have included- Tracking Bats, foraging & cooking, Halloween and Christmas sessions.
We link these to the time of year and as the evenings get darker, we hand out head torches for everyone to borrow.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for future events.
Over 50’s Wanted
We are always looking for new volunteers to be actively involved in helping us maintain our orchards and get involved with with our apple harvest and new sensory garden! Meet like minded people & make new friends in our beautiful orchard!
Wednesday 10am – 2.30pm (terms times only)
Plus one Wednesday per month join in with our childminders & their early years children for some fun and crafts during our intergenerational sessions!
Volunteering in the Orchard
If you’ve read some of our features, you’ll soon realise our regular volunteers are a big part of our Forest School team and without these wonderful people Orchard Forest School wouldn’t run as smoothly and certainly wouldn’t look like it does today! These guys are our rock!!
Our volunteers come from many walks of life; managers, post masters, teachers, skilled people, shop keepers, therapists, musicians, mums, dads, grandparents, and social care workers, all of whom have big hearts and want to support their local community in any way they can.
Find out more, volunteer or book a session
Email: orchardforestsch@gmail.com